The present invention relates to a job execution managing apparatus which can select a particular application program or a particular document according to contents of a job (work) using a computer and also can automatically make the computer execute all or a portion of the processing corresponding to contents of the job and to a computer-readable recording medium with a program stored therein for making a computer function as a job execution managing apparatus recorded therein.
When carrying out a job with a computer, it is necessary to select and execute an application program corresponding to contents of the job. For instance, it is necessary to select a word processor software when a document is to be prepared, or a browser when accessing a homepage through the Internet to execute desired processing.
When a document previously prepared is to be used, for instance, a list of files is prepared, and a user selects a desired file name from the file names displayed in the list form to execute desired processing.
However, in the conventional technology as described above, knowledge is required as to which application program suited to contents of the job is, and sometimes a user can not immediately determine which application program is to be used.
Also in the conventional technology described above, document management is executed centering on file names, and for this reason it is necessary to select a file name after confirming contents or applications of the document, so that execution of a job can not immediately be started. Namely, in the conventional technology, it is necessary to provide an improved method of managing file names or files so that contents or application of each document can immediately be understood, and if it is impossible to immediately understand contents of each document from a file name, it is necessary to open the file for ascertaining contents of the file. For this reason, sometimes a document different from a truly required one may be selected, which is very inconvenient in practical operation.
Furthermore, after a desired document is selected, generally the document is sent as a mail or printed. Namely, a document is searched out through retrieval or other operations to execute some job using the document. In the conventional technology, however, documents are managed at a dimension substantially different from a level of practical application, a user is required to give some instruction for achieving an object to a computer (or to an application program), and must perform operations several times.
It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to automatically select a particular application program or a document and automatically execute all or a portion of the processing corresponding to contents of the job by a computer.
Namely, with the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, a character string indicating a user""s action to execute a job with given contents is defined as job information; job information is prepared for a given number of jobs; prepared job information is divided and stored in the forms of a first job information specifying execution of a particular application program and a second job information specifying the first job information, and further first relational information correlating the first job information to a corresponding particular application program and second relational information correlating the second job information to the first job information are stored. And, of the first and second job information, prespecified first and/or second job information is read out and displayed, and when the displayed first job information is selected, the first relational information is referred to and the corresponding application program is executed, while the second job information is selected, second relational information is referred to and the corresponding first job information is displayed.
Namely, with the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, a character string indicating a user""s action to carry out a job with given contents is defined as job information; job information is prepared for an arbitrary number of jobs; the prepared job information is divided and stored in the forms of a first job information specifying execution of a particular program and a document to be used and a second job information specifying first job information, and also first relational information correlating the first job information to a corresponding particular programs as well as to a document, and second relational information correlating the second job information to the first job information are stored. And, of the first and second job information, prespecified first and/or second job information are read out and displayed, and when the displayed first job information is selected, a corresponding application program is executed by referring to the first relational information and using a corresponding document, and when the second job information is selected, the corresponding first job information is displayed referring to the second relational information.
With the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, further to make it possible for a user to select whether the first and second job information are to be displayed or not, only second job information is displayed in a list form, and of the listed second job information, displayed-selected information is appended to the second job information selected by the user, and the second job information with display-selected information appended thereto is displayed. When the second job information is selected, the first job information is displayed according to the second relational information.
With the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, job execution information defining an execution procedure for a corresponding application program is appended to the first job information, and the corresponding application program is executed according to the job execution information.
With the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, a character string indicating a user""s action to carry out a job with given contents is defined as job information, the job information is prepared for an arbitrary number of jobs, the job information is divided and stored in the forms of a first job information specifying execution of a particular application program, a second job information specifying execution of a particular application program and a document to be used, and a third job information specifying the first job information or second job information according to contents of the job corresponding to the prepared job information, and further first relational information correlating the first job information to corresponding a particular application program, second relational information correlating the second job information to a corresponding application program as well as to a document to be used, and third relational information correlating the third job information to the first or second job information. And of the first, second, and third job information, prespecified first, second and/or third job information are read out and displayed, and when the displayed first job information is selected, a corresponding application program is executed by referring to the first relational information, and when the second job information is selected, a corresponding application program is executed by referring to the second relational information and also using the corresponding document, and further when the third job information is selected, the corresponding first or second job information is displayed by referring to the third relational information.
With the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, to make it possible to specify whether the first, second, and third job information are to be displayed or not, only the third job information is displayed in a list form, and of the listed third job information, display-selected information is appended to the third job information selected by a user, and the third job information with display-selected information appended thereto is displayed. And, when the third job information is selected, the first or second job information is displayed according to the third relational information.
With the job execution managing apparatus according to the present invention, job execution information defining a execution procedure for a corresponding application program is appended to the first and second job information, and the corresponding application program is executed according to the job execution information.
With the computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention, it is possible to make a computer function as the job execution managing apparatus by making the computer execute a recorded program.
Other objects and features of this invention will become clear from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.